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Lord Fear

Master Vampire
True Blood
Aug 15, 2007
4,834
I gave my Mannfred list its first playtest today, against an Empire army lead by an Arch Lector on War Altar. Here's my list:

Mannfred von Carstein
Necro, Level 2, barded Nightmare, Book of Arkhan, Scroll
21 Skeletons, FC
13 Skeletons, LA, FC
11 Zombies
7 Dire Wolves, Doom Wolf
9 Ghouls, Ghast
6 barded Black Knights
6 barded Black Knights, FC, BotB
3 Spirit Hosts

A pretty small army, I know! Mannfred rolled 1, 3, 4, 6 for his spells, the Necro got 1 and 6. I was really hoping for VHD but can't have it all.

And in the red corner! With his GT army...
Arch Lector, Meteoric Armour, Mace of Helstrum
Warrior Priest on foot, great weapon
Warrior Priest on barded horse, great weapon
Level 2 Light Wizard, two Scrolls
25 Spearmen, FC, 5 Archers as detachment and 9 Free Company
25 Swordsmen, FC, 9 Free Company as detachment
24 Flagellants, Prophet
6 Inner Circle Knights, FC, War Banner
2 Cannons
6 Outriders

His Light Wizard got 1 and 6, so D6S6 magic missile and D6S6 to all within 12” even in combat. Not good, especially combined with the War Altar's free Light spell!

Deployment

aimg68.imageshack.us_img68_6640_deplhv5.jpg

Ugh, that battlemap program is horrible to use. But it illustrates the battlefield basically enough- I won the roll for deployment so took the side with the hill just so he couldn't.

He has his knights (+WP) on the left, then Spearmen (+WP) with detachments (The block is 3 x 3, the archers are joined by the Wizard), War Altar, Swordsmen with detachment, Flaggelants, both cannons in the wood (Brilliant move- meant my ambushing Dire Wolves wouldn't be able to get to them), then Outriders.

On my side, the Spirit Hosts, then the lesser Knights. The Zombies with Necromancer are next, then the larger Skellies on the hill, joined by Mannfred, then the armoured skellies. The Ghouls screen the Black Knights and the Dire Wolves trolls around the flank.

Turn One

I won the roll for first turn and decided to take it- I don't like giving the first turn to any army with much shooting. Mannfred summoned his Dire Wolves, and a single wolf popped behind enemy lines, near the Knights. Still able to marchblock so not entirely useless! Most the army moved forwards, the Spirit Hosts taking the barn. The Dire Wolves knew not to run in front of the outriders so moved behind the hill, ready to pop up when the threat was gone.

Magic saw most of my spells dispelled, but a Gaze of Nagash killed two Flagellants, mwahaha.

The Empire army only edged forward, mostly the left flank coming at me. Prayers made the Knights and Spearmen unbreakable, but attempts at exorcising the barn with light magic failed.

The shooting phase began with both cannons taking shots at Mannfred, guessing 15”. The first rolled 10, the dice gods rewarding my opponent for his poor guess and having it land squarely on Mannfred's head. The Skeletons were snoozing and I failed my look out sir! roll! Incredible, the game could be over already! However my opponent rolled a 1 as well, so I breathed a sigh of relief. The other Cannon misfired and wouldn't be able to fire next turn either.

The Outriders killed just one Ghoul with their machine guns, and the Archers had moved to shoot the lone wolf, but failed. Mwahaha.

Turn Two

Mannfred summoned up a storm that would hurt the enemy's chance of shooting and so the Dire Wolves nipped up close to the Outriders. The Zombies stormed forward, and the Spirit Hosts left the house and moved near to the Knights, the Black Knights setting themselves up for a charge too.

Magic saw the Zombie unit massively increased in size, but not much else. At this point I realised I'd forgotten to move the lone wolf away from the small unit of archers, but my opponent wouldn't let me move him over. So we'd be playing like that, eh?

The Knights charged the Spirit Hosts, no magic weapons but hoping their faith in Sigmar would see them through. Cleansing Flare hurt the Hosts and killed a Black Knight but failed to kill the lone wolf, while the proests kept uttering their ridiculous prayers. Another attempt at Mannfred with the cannon failed miserable, way too short this time. The Outriders cocked their weapons, and 18 shots later needing 5s to hit, all 7 Dire Wolves were dead. Damn!

One of the Spirit Hosts dissolved in the face of the righteous Inner Circle Knights, but that was fine by me- it left me more space to charge my own Knights in!

Turn Three

And so the lesser Black Knights went into the front of the Knights, while the stronger Black Knights charged a Cannon. Cue 5 minute discussion of my opponent thinking he can flee and thereby make me fail the charge, when in fact if he flees, I hit the machine anyway, destroy it in combat and then overrun. So he held instead. The Ghouls moved near to the Flagellants, ready to bait them.

Mannfred rode up to join the Zombies while the Necromancer headed backwards to the Skeletons.

Magic saw a Gaze of Nagash kill 7 Free Company detachment, leaving their scurvy leader and his dog. I targeted them simply to make their detachment countercharge useless! However, disaster followed as my Necromancer miscast and gave the Light Wizard a free spell. I failed to dispel (Rolling another double one, of course) with my three remaining dice, and Cleansing Flare wiped out the remaining Spirit Hosts, killed all but one of the left Black Knights and finally the lone wolf. What had been a surely victorious charge against his Knights and potential game-winner had turned into a real mess. Of course, the remaining Knight didn't hit a thing and dissolved. That's what I get for trying to use tactics again. The Cannon crew were all slaughtered however, and the Black Knights overran an inch into the other Cannon.

The Flagellants had to charge the Ghouls, and of course when they fled I rolled yet another double one and they were caught and destroyed. The two Free Company moved forward to try and make me redirect, while the Knights tried to move about 20” through the house so I made my opponent go back and move them sensibly. Then he tried a similarly bad maneuvre with his Spearmen (“See, I can wheel 2”, march 4”, then wheel another 2”! Easy” - and then he pushed them forward another two inches...).

With all my support dead and Knights in combat, another round of prayers bolstered the Imperial morale and light attacks whittled down my unarmoured Skeletons, who had yet to be boosted by the Invocation of Nehek.

Turn Four

I took advantage of my opponent's lack of knowledge on the rules, and charged in my armoured Skeletons and Mannfred's Zombies at the two Free Company. He thought they'd be able to flee at the angle he'd placed them, when in fact they had to turn directly away from the Zombies and run away in that direction- letting me hit the Swordsmen with the Enemy in the Way rule. He wasn't happy, but I'd killed very little so far so I gave him no quarter. The Black Knights reformed by the forest to threaten the insane Empire citizens.

Magic saw the armoured Skeletons finally bolstered by the Invocation (If I raised any more the Flagellants would be able to get a flank charge!), while the Curse of Years wounded the mounted Warrior Priest. A couple of prayers were dispelled, and Mannfred drew his Sword of Unholy Power, and slew five pathetic Swordsmen, their Champion cutting down two Zombies before signalling the retreat. They outran Mannfred and the Zombies, dropping their standard.

The Empire Knights and Spearmen moved up to the Necromancer's Skeletons, leaving me little choice. The Outriders ran onto the hill to survey the battlefield while the Flagellants reformed to take a frontal charge from the Black Knights. The Swordsmen rallied reluctantly...

With ten dispel dice thanks to Mannfred's Sword, the Empire magic phase didn't work so well, although a single prayer got through.

Turn Five

The Skeletons charged the Spearmen, but I'd forgotten about their detachment, which went into the Zombies' flank, the Necromancer having three angry pirates drawing their blades to take him on. The Black Knights charged the Flagellants, hoping they could cut their way through the crazies ranks before the end of the game. Mannfred and his Zombies again charged the Swordsmen who decided it was best to run rather than be fuel for Mannfred's weapon.

Attempts to bolster the fighting Skeletons with the Invocation failed, but Hellish Vigour was just in range and boosted their meagre fighting. Curse of Years cast on the small detachment of archers with the Wizard went through, but only one died. Sadly the Book of Arkhan expired when it was used to move the armoured Skeletons in an attempt to finish off the archers, but they were just over 8” away.

Combat saw numerous Flagellants killed, they themselves martyting one of their number to gain hatred, though it did not matter for the Prophet of Doom's attacks back. The fight between the Skeletons, Spearmen and Free Company detachment was amazing- despite my re-rolls, not a single wound was caused to the Empire troops. Then, despite his troops' hatred, not a single wound was caused to the Skeletons. However, the Warrior Priest showed everyone how it was done and smashed the Champion down. More Skeletons crumbled under his righteous might.

The Arch Lector finally decided to get his hands dirty and charged the now large unit of armoured Skeletons, though he couldn't kill them all, while the Knights went into the other Skeletons' open flank. This wasn't going to be pretty. Two Soulfires and combat later, all the unit was dead, along with the Necromancer. Oh well, at least I'd be able to cast spells on the units in my last turn...

Turn Six

Not much movement, Mannfred's Zombies rearranged themselves to help him cast magic. The Curse of Years affected the archers once again, this time killing three and wounding the Wizard himself. However, they would not run away, sadly. Another Curse ripped through the Spearmen, killing five, but it was not enough to panic them either. Some Zombies clambered up from the huge piles of dead to contest a table quarter. The Black Knights continued to hack apart the Flagellants, who were now running quite low on activists. The Arch Lector kept hacking at the Skeletons, but they would not fall under half strength.

More magic was blasted at Mannfred's hordes, but none would matter. With the final rolls of the game, the Black Knights cut into the surviving Flagellants... three were left, then I rolled for the horses- only four in contact now, but three hits... and three kills! Oh but hang on, the Flagellants should have struck before the horses. They caused one wound, but it bounced off the thick armour and so the Flagellants were all wiped out. Just how it should be.

Conclusion

A lot of my stuff was wiped out, but all in all the enemy got about 850VPs while I got about 820VP, since I damaged some of his characters. So, a very close draw! A well-fought game, but when I had an amazingly bad run of dice causing a miscast and my entire left flank collapsed as a result, I was sure I had lost the game. To be honest, after that I should have lost (And a more experienced Empire player would have whupped me), but my getting a nice charge on a juicy infantry unit through my opponent's lack of rules knowledge let me scrape the draw. Overall however I should have won based on tactics though, as my Knights should have cut through his, destroying his flank and weakening his magic. But those are the dice.

I was quite pleased with Mannfred, he earnt about 400VPs from the unit he ran off and characters wounded by the Curse of Years. It was a shame that neither of us were willing to get too stuck in with our characters, instead mostly using their free spellcasting abilities, but my opponent was smart and didn't feed me any troops. I'd have been happy for Mannfred to spend the battle killing Flagellants, to be honest. It was a shaky start after a cannon balls fell into his lap, but I can't see him dying easily, giving me a nice block of 700 points that few enemies will take. I'll keep using him for now.
 

The Inspector

Vargheist
Aug 25, 2007
688
1800's England
A well told report - I'm glad I'm up this late to read it :)

I caught my breath when Mannfred decided to have a go at catching the cannon ball, and I'm glad that he turned out ok.

Be sure to keep us updated with your exploits with Mannfred - our favourite "he's dead but I hope not, well he is dead...undead, but not dead dead" Vampire.
 

wuxala

Zombie
Aug 28, 2007
10
Texas
Nice report. I really appreciate the deployment schematic as it makes things easier (for me) to visualize as the game progressed. Time for some new dice!
 

DarkHand6

Grave Guard
Aug 12, 2007
244
London
"And in a dramatic change of policy the Vatican has recognised the official existance of Vampires. This ladies and Gentlemen is the overthrow of more than 2000 years of dogmatic teaching and ferverent denials on the part of the church.
When we attempted to find out what had caused this major change of heart, we were not told anything specific but rumour has it that his holiness was accosted on his morning drive...

This Ed Trinton in the Vatican...

Back to you in the studio, Ted."
 

Danceman

The Devil in Pale Moonlight
True Blood
Aug 19, 2007
3,472
Good report, shame about the stroke of bad luck but it will inevitably happend at times.

A nice bloody game though :)
 

WEEVILWOOD

Zombie
Sep 2, 2007
12
nice battle :), good ol manfred! shame you didnt win, but thats just bad luck, your list is really cool too
 

FatOlaf

Varghulf
Aug 15, 2007
770
London
EvC said:
The first rolled 10, the dice gods rewarding my opponent for his poor guess and having it land squarely on Mannfred's head. The Skeletons were snoozing and I failed my look out sir! roll! Incredible, the game could be over already! However my opponent rolled a 1 as well, so I breathed a sigh of relief.

Well that would have been a premature end to your Mannfred career.


Magic saw the Zombie unit massively increased in size, but not much else. At this point I realised I'd forgotten to move the lone wolf away from the small unit of archers, but my opponent wouldn't let me move him over. So we'd be playing like that, eh?{/quote]

Dont you just love players who play in the spirit of things?

while the Knights tried to move about 20” through the house so I made my opponent go back and move them sensibly. Then he tried a similarly bad maneuvre with his Spearmen (“See, I can wheel 2”, march 4”, then wheel another 2”! Easy” - and then he pushed them forward another two inches...).

You were'nt playing Logan054 were you? :mrgreen:


A great BR there fella, and a v close result, I look forward to facing Mannfred myself one day, or maybe use him in our TK alliance?
 

logan054

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Aug 16, 2007
2,601
Colchester
FatOlaf said:
You were'nt playing Logan054 were you? :mrgreen:

I couldn't help but laugh when i saw this :rolleyes:

A great BR there fella, and a v close result, I look forward to facing Mannfred myself one day, or maybe use him in our TK alliance?

i doubt that, he only uses lamnhia against me now ;)

Anyways interesting battle report, hope to see a few more from you :)
 

Lord Fear

Master Vampire
True Blood
Aug 15, 2007
4,834
your wish is my command ;)

Also wouldn't want to be accused of being a powergamer, what with taking a special character 'n' all :D
 

logan054

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Aug 16, 2007
2,601
Colchester
what the hell have you been smoking? its powergaming using special characters, dont think i have ever said that, i just think they are a waste of time and lack imagination using them, i don't think i know any vets who use them (other the model to represent something else).
 

Lord Fear

Master Vampire
True Blood
Aug 15, 2007
4,834
Well it's all good then!

Here's a pic of this battle I forgot to upload until now...
aimg339.imageshack.us_img339_5383_empok9.jpg
 

Skaramak von Carstein

Vampire Count
True Blood
Aug 13, 2007
1,636
St Helier
A well written report of a good game, with ebb and flow. I would agree that luck was a little against you, but you did have a little on your side too (with Manfred nodding the ball into the back of the net without even twinging his neck muscles).

Overall, a draw was not a bad result.
 

Lord Fear

Master Vampire
True Blood
Aug 15, 2007
4,834
Yeah, I was happy to get the draw in the end, the Arch Lector is a togh opponent!

(Oh yeah also in that pic you can see the position of the Knights behind the house, when my opponent moved them in his next turn the back of their bases were touching the house's wall, hahaha. No he didn't get away with it)
 

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